Semiconductor chips may be provided with a mechanism for protecting the inside thereof from static electricity unintentionally applied from the outside. Such mechanism includes electrostatic discharge (ESD) damage protection circuits, which may be simply referred to as protection circuits hereinafter. Each protection circuit conducts the current due to static electricity to flow through the protection circuit to prevent the current from flowing through circuits inside the semiconductor chip. The protection circuit needs to be provided to allow the semiconductor chip to have a required tolerance (a withstand voltage) against the static electricity.